April 16, 2014

Texas A&M quarterback Matt Joeckel, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business in December, announced Wednesday that he will transfer to another school for his final season of eligibility.

Joeckel’s decision eliminates one candidate in the race to replace Johnny Manziel, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, as A&M’s starting quarterback next season. The Aggies’ top options heading into fall drills will be Kenny Hill, a sophomore from Southlake Carroll, and Kyle Allen, a freshman who enrolled in January and took part in spring drills.

Joeckel, a fifth-year senior from ArlingtonHigh School, would have one year of eligibility remaining at his new school. Joeckel offered no indication about his future destination in a statement issued by school officials announcing his decision.

Both TCU and SMU are replacing starting quarterbacks who graduated after the 2013 season and either school could be considered a potential landing spot for Joeckel, whose sister played volleyball at TCU.

Joeckel has spent the past two seasons as the primary backup to Manziel, making his lone career start in last year’s opener when Manziel served an NCAA suspension in the first half of that contest. A&M defeated Rice, 52-31, with Joeckel completing 14-of-19 passes for 190 yards and one touchdown against the Owls.

Joeckel (6-foot-4, 234 pounds) played in the first half of that contest and turned things over to Manziel in the third quarter with A&M holding a 28-21 lead. Joeckel, twin brother of Jacksonville Jaguars’ offensive tackle Luke Joeckel, threw for 3,145 yards and 40 touchdowns, with only six interceptions, in his senior season at Arlington when he was named the district’s 2009 offensive player of the year.

A&M ended spring drills April 5 and, in a statement released by school officials, Joeckel praised his experience at the school and his relationship with coach Kevin Sumlin and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital.

In the statement, Joeckel said: “I have loved my four and a half years at Texas A&M. I am glad I had the opportunity to play for Coach Sumlin, Coach Spavital and the rest of the coaches. I am proud to have my degree from the MaysBusinessSchool and I’ll always consider myself a member of the Aggie family.”

In a statement, Sumlin said: “Matt is a great Aggie and he has decided to transfer. We wish him all the best.”

March 11, 2014

How balanced is the field for this week’s Big 12 men’s basketball tournament? Five different schools are given odds of 7/1 or better to claim the tournament title, a list that includes the No. 7 seed (Baylor) and No. 8 seed (Oklahoma) in the 10-team league.

Six of the 10 teams received odds of 9/1 or better today from Bovada Sports Book (www.Bovada.lv), by far the highest number of teams with single-digits odds heading into any conference tournament.

Below is a league-by-league look at the odds assigned teams vying to earn an NCAA Tournament berth at this week’s conference tournaments:

August 30, 2013

AT&T Stadium has modified its security policy by
limiting the size and style of bags allowed into the stadium. The large purse shown here? That won't fly Saturday at TCU's season opener against LSU.
Prohibited bags
include, but are not limited to, the following: all purses, bags or containers
larger than a small clutch bag, coolers, briefcases, backpacks, fanny packs,
cinch bags, luggage of any kind, computer bags, camera bags, binocular cases
(binoculars may be worn around the neck), diaper bags, and seat cushions.

For more details on the bag restrictions visit
www.dallascowboys.com/bags.

Stefan Stevenson@FollowtheFrogs

AT&T Stadium has modified its security policy by limiting the size and style of bags allowed into the stadium. Prohibited bags include, but are not limited to, the following: all purses, bags or containers larger than a small clutch bag, coolers, briefcases, backpacks, fanny packs, cinch bags, luggage of any kind, computer bags, camera bags, binocular cases (binoculars may be worn around the neck), diaper bags, and seat cushions.

For more details on the bag restrictions visit www.dallascowboys.com/bags.

The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth will become part of the Big 12 bowl mix in the 2014 season, league and bowl officials announced Friday.

As part of the deal, the Big 12 will provide its No. 7 pick to either the game in Fort Worth or the Heart of Dallas Bowl five times during a six-year stretch (2014-19). A Big 12 team will be a primary back-up selection in the other season.

In years that a Big 12 school does not wind up in Fort Worth, a team from the Big Ten will compete in the game at Amon G. Carter Stadium while a Big 12 school heads to Dallas as part of a reciprocal deal between the two bowls and the two leagues. The Big Ten agreement with the D-FW bowls, announced in July, covers the 2013-19 seasons.

The Big Ten will send a team to this year’s Heart of Dallas Bowl. The 2013 Armed Forces Bowl, to be played Dec. 30 in Fort Worth (10:45 a.m., ESPN), will feature Navy – pending bowl eligibility -- against an opponent from the Mountain West Conference.

In seasons when the Big 12 team plays in the Armed Forces Bowl, that school will play an opponent from the American Athletic Conference. When the Big 12 team winds up in Dallas, the opponent will come from Conference USA.

Brant Ringler, executive director of the Armed Forces Bowl, said officials in Fort Worth are “extremely excited to be working … with the Big 12 Conference and its counterparts in the Big Ten during the next six seasons.”

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bolwsby said adding the D-FW connection allows league officials to meet “all the benchmarks” sought by schools for future bowl tie-ins: a strong presence in Texas, combined with options in Florida, Arizona and another drivable destination for most schools (Liberty Bowl in Memphis).

The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth will become part of the Big 12 bowl mix, starting with the 2014 season, sources close to the situation have confirmed. A formal announcement is expected later today.

As part of the deal, the Big 12 will provide its No. 7 pick to either the game in Fort Worth or the Heart of Dallas Bowl on an annual basis five times during a six-year stretch (2014-19). A Big 12 team will be a primary back-up selection in the other season.

In years that a Big 12 school does not wind up in Fort Worth, a team from the Big Ten will compete in the game at Amon G. Carter Stadium while a Big 12 school heads to Dallas as part of a reciprocal deal between the two bowls and the two leagues. The Big Ten agreement with the D-FW bowls, announced in July, covers the 2013-19 seasons.

The Big Ten will send a team to this year’s Heart of Dallas Bowl. The 2013 Armed Forces Bowl, to be played Dec. 30 in Fort Worth (10:45 a.m., ESPN) will feature Navy – pending bowl eligibility -- against an opponent from the Mountain West Conference.

August 28, 2013

Heading into the 2013 college football season, the most-discussed rules change made during the offseason involves an updated definition of “targeting” by a defensive player while making a tackle. To help fans understand the nuances of the rule, the Big 12 circulated a video featuring Walt Anderson, the league’s coordinator of football officials, explaining what is allowed and what will be penalty under 2013 rules. This information applies to rules implementation throughout the country, not just the Big 12. Below is a link to Anderson’s video:

August 26, 2013

TCU coach Gary Patterson is taking the Horned Frogs' quarterback derby down to the last second. The answer to the question -- Who will be TCU's starting quarterback? -- won't come until the Frogs' offense takes the field for the first time against LSU at 8 p.m. Saturday at AT&T Stadium.

The pregame coin toss won't even offer a clue because Patterson said Monday on the Big 12 teleconference that both Casey Pachall and Trevone Boykin would represent the TCU offense as captains.He declined to name a starter Monday but said both will play.

August 24, 2013

ARLINGTON -- Andy Dalton is getting a hang of this comedy thing. The former
TCU great and current Cincinnati Bengal quarterback was in the middle of
answering a question during his postgame press conference Saturday night when a
cameraman’s phone went off.
The Eagles' Hotel California played for 20 or 30 seconds while the poor
cameraman tried to negotiate his camera while finding his phone in his pocket.
It didn’t faze Dalton.

“I think there’s a lot to learn from this [game] tape,” he
said as the music started. “We got put in a lot of situations; we listened to
some really good music…”
Dalton’s comedy
chops have been on display of late. He’s had a few funny moments on HBO’s Hard
Knocks, which has been following the Bengals training camp. And a
recently-released Pepsi commercial where Dalton
is trying to sell a fictitious Bengal-smelling fragrance to fans shows that he has comedic timing to go with his athletic skill.
Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v5eW-h6Bnk

Dalton
completed 12 of 16 passes for 113 yards Saturday in the Bengals’ 24-18
preseason loss to the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.

The honor, to be awarded for the first time in the 2013 season, will go to the nation’s outstanding Division I offensive player with a Texas connection. The recipient must have been born in Texas, graduated from a Texas high school or played at a Texas-based junior college or four-year college.

Organizers said the recipient also must display characteristics that defined Campbell, the 1977 Heisman Trophy winner and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame: integrity, performance, teamwork, sportsmanship, drive, community, and tenacity. The full watch list is below: